The San José de Cúcuta Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence Study: Design and Scop

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of interrelatedrisk factors -including obesity, atherogenicdyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance,which exponentially increase the risk of developing cardiovasculardisease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The purposeof this cross-sectional study is to determine the prevalence ofMetS according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)and the last harmonizing MetS criteria in adult individuals ofboth sexes from San Jose de Cucuta, Colombia, a mediumsizecity belonging to the North of Santander Department,with a population of 587.676 inhabitants according to the2005 census information conducted by the National StatisticAdministrative Department (DANE) with a projection by 2017of 662.765 persons. Likewise, DANE projects that 68.5%(454.077 hab) of Cucutan population will be over 18 yearsby 2017, so that, using these data, the sample size for SanJose de Cucuta is 2200 adult persons for a 95% confidenceinterval and a maximum accepted sampling error of 5%.Data derived from both, medical and laboratory examination(smoking habit, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, alcoholconsumption, nutritional habits, physical activity byIPAQ, blood pressure, anthropometry, and blood chemistryand endocrinology panel) will be conducted by trainedhealth professionals and medical students.There is a clear lack of evidence regarding the prevalenceof cardio-metabolic risk factors and local cut-off points forbiological quantitative variables i.e. abdominal circumference,body mass index, fasting insulin, Homeostasis ModelAssessment, among others. In the near future, this studywill contribute for new evidence, providing firsthandaccurateevidence about MetS behavior in our country.